In Which Adrien Really Regrets Slacking Off in his Royal Laws Class
by Royal Rampion Engineer
Summary: Prince Adrien, due to his father's untimely death, must be crowned king at noon. The only problem? No one told him he had to be married to take the throne. So with fifteen minutes to spare before his coronation, Adrien must somehow get himself married in order to retain his title. Or the fic where Adrien panics, Nathalie tries to stay calm, and Marinette is confused. Royal AU
1. Chapter 1

**Note:** **Okay, so I wrote this all in one sitting pretty late at night. The idea has been sitting in the brain for the past couple of days, and I just had to write it. I don't really have another chapter planned for this, but if lots of people would like one, I'll probably do it. I kinda love the idea of the story. I hope you enjoy reading it, and please leave a comment if you would like this fic to be continued! Thank you! Also, feel free to check out my tumblr: royalrampionengineer !**

"It is now time to sign the marriage license, Prince Adrien," Royal Advisor Sancoeur stated, walking into hallway with a bundle of papers.

"Uh, what?" Adrien replied, adjusting a golden pin on his royal suit jacket. "I'm being crowded king, not getting married. You must have grabbed the wrong papers."

"Were you not informed?" Sancoeur asked him.

"Informed of what?" Adrien turned to her. He could already feel his face paling and his hands sweating. Although, it wasn't as if his hands weren't _already_ sweating. Having fifteen minutes to go before you get crowded king of the largest kingdom in the southern providences tended to do that to a person.

Adrien admitted, he was probably more nervous than he should have been. The coronation was simple. Say yes to a couple of sentences, hold the scepter and the golden orb, look composed as the crown was placed on his head, then stand up straight as the kingdom clapped for him. Easy. Except for the fact that he had only just arrived back in the kingdom after a three-month tour around the providence and was completely underprepared to run a kingdom he was out of touch with. It was just like his father to die right in the middle of his trip and cause him to come home to run the kingdom. That was his father for you, always ruining anything fun or independent Adrien tried to do.

Adrien sighed, then turned back to Sancoeur's piercing stare. This was not the time to get lost in his thoughts. "You know I just got back from my trip late last night. I've just been doing what other people told me to. I literally have no idea what's going on, besides the steps during the coronation happening in fifteen minutes."

Sancoeur stared at him, "Prince Adrien, the royal law dictates one must be married before he or she can take the throne."

"Excuse me?!"

"Did the royal tutors teach you nothing about the laws surrounding a coronation?"

"Apparently not," Adrien muttered. Although, Adrien had to concede that maybe this was the teensy bit his fault. So what if he read his favorite adventure novels during the Royal Laws lessons? They were so boring, and he figured he could pick up everything he needed to know by shadowing his father when the time came. But no, his father just had to die and ruin all of Adrien's plans. Figures.

Adrien cast a glance at the papers in her hand, "So you're telling me no one thought to mention that I had to get married to become king before now?"

"Yes," Sancoeur replied, expressionless. Adrien resisted the urge to crawl up in a corner and just die right then.

"And why is this a rule? It seems like, really old fashioned."

"When the first king took the throne and built this great kingdom, he almost went mad with the stress of it. Then he met the queen, and she helped him to find a balance between ruling and fun. He then made it a royal law that the prince or princess must be married before taking on the title of king or queen, to prevent anyone from feeling as he did."

"That is so stupid." Adrien raked a hand through his hair, messing up the two-hours work of three stylists.

"We figured this wouldn't be an issue since you and Lady Rossi were planning on getting married this summer anyway. You can have the wedding ceremony in the summer as planned, you just need to sign the marriage license now to make it official."

Adrien's face finally lost all of its color. "Uh."

Sancoeur looked around. "Where is Lady Rossi? I thought I had someone go fetch her." She snapped her hands, and several of the royal employees running around the hallway stopped to hear her demands. "Someone get Lady Rossi and bring her here immediately."

"Wait! That's not necessary!" The employees went back to their jobs, and Adrien answered the questioning gaze coming from Sancoeur. "It's uh, well, a funny story," Adrien replied sheepishly. "But I don't think Lila is in the palace."

Sancoeur turned to him, glaring. Adrien shrunk back. Dang, she could give his father a run for his money in the glaring department. "And why would that be?"

"We might have, ahh, broken up this morning?"

"You did what."

"Hey, the break-up was not my fault! Well, I did break up with her, but she was the one who was cheating on me! I went to surprise her for breakfast this morning, only to find her lip-locking with my cousin Theo!" Adrien ranted, beginning to pace down the hallway. "Like, I know I was gone for a couple of months, but come on! I wrote her love poetry every single day, and she cheats behind my back! Theo's not even that attractive! And he's a selfish jerk!" Adrien angrily wiped away the tears streaming down his face.

Sancoeur frowned, "I was unaware of this occurrence."

"Yeah, well, I figured I would let everyone know after the coronation. I didn't want to make a big deal about it. But apparently, that's not an option right now."

Sancoeur looked at him, "So you are not currently dating or engaged to anyone?"

"No!" Adrien shouted. "I thought I made that clear with my little rant back there." He waved his hands in the direction he had just paced from.

"Well, it seems we have a problem then."

"Yeah," Adrien ran his hands through his hair again. "Yeah, it does. What happens if I don't get married in the next ten minutes?"

"You cannot be crowned king."

"Can't we like, delay the ceremony a day or something?"

"Royal law dictates that a new ruler must be crowned exactly a day after the death of the old king at noon. If you do not get married, the crown will pass to Theo."

"But he's not married either!"

"It would take no time for him to get married to Lady Rossi."

"This is so unfair. Who in all the providences thought these royal rules were a good idea?!" Adrien muttered.

"I am beginning to think that myself. Are you sure you could think of no one to marry now? Theo would make an awful king, too self-involved and not concerned with what is best for the kingdom, just himself."

"You're telling me," Adrien scoffed. "And no, I can't think of anyone. I couldn't stand to be married to Chloe for the rest of my life, much rule beside her. I'd much rather marry a stranger. And my other friend Nino is already in love with Lady Céaire. I've got no other options." Adrien braced his back against the wall of the hallway and slid down to the floor, running his hands down his face. "I've got no options. I'm not going to be king, and Theo's going to run this kingdom into the ground. This is the worst day of my life."

"No," Sancoeur looked at him. "There must be something we can do in the next eight minutes."

"Like what?" Adrien asked helplessly. "Find a random person around the palace and marry them?"

"Yes," Sancoeur replied unflinchingly.

"Are you crazy?" Adrien gaped up at her.

"Maybe. Now get up and go find yourself someone to marry." She grabbed his arm and pulled him up from the floor. Adrien was so startled, he stumbled too far forward and knocked his head against the opposite wall. He rubbed his head as Sancoeur pushed his back forward. "Hurry. We don't have much time."

Adrien, dazed, hurting, and wondering exactly what his life was coming to, was too distracted to pay attention to where he was going. He was knocked back into reality when he felt his body hit something that was definitely not a wall.

"I'm so sorry!" The not-a-wall screeched out. Adrien blinked, then looked down at the girl staring up at him, wide-eyed.

"No, it's my fault. I was a bit distracted." Adrien looked at her. She was short, with her blue-black hair tied up into a bun and a blush on her face. She was wearing a polo shirt with the royal crest on it. An employee in the palace then, sewing division if the color of her shirt was correct. He remembered her, he thought, from before his trip. She was helping the kitchen staff with their duties, if he remembered correctly. And he swore he saw sketching out in the royal gardens before with a gaggle of palace kids surrounding her. That seemed promising.

It was in that moment, staring into her blue eyes, that the panic about the coronation and marriage flashed bright in his mind. And Adrien thought, What the hell. She's cute and nice. It could work.

"Are you dating anyone?" he asked her.

"Excuse me?"

"Please?" Adrien grabbed her forearms in desperation. "The fate of the kingdom rests on your answer!"

Okay, maybe he was being a bit dramatic, but come on. The situation _was_ pretty dire.

The woman's eyes practically popped out of their sockets. "It does?"

"Yes!"

"No, no I'm not dating anyone."

"Perfect. Will you marry me?"

The girl looked around wildly. "What?" Her gaze darted to his royal jacket, and she let out a little scream, covering her hand with her mouth.

"Like, right now? I'm not joking. Please, I promise I'll explain everything after. I know it sounds crazy."

"You're Prince Adrien," the woman kept staring at him, and Adrien squirmed. How in all the providences did he get himself into these situations?

"Yes I am, and I am begging you to marry me." He almost dropped down to his knees, but thought that might have been a bit much.

"This is a dream. There's no way this is happening." The woman shook her head, backing away.

"As much as I wish it was, this is real life and I need you to marry me within the next five minutes or else I won't be crowned king."

"Huh?"

Adrien waved his hands, "It's a weird royal law thing that I didn't know about until like fifteen minutes ago."

"Why aren't you marrying Lady Rossi?"

"We broke up!" Adrien said exasperatedly. "She was cheating on me."

"And you choose me to marry instead?" The woman's head was titled to the side.

"Well, you were the first person I saw," Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. This was so bad. What was he thinking? He was never going to be king! "And I remember seeing you around the palace. You always seemed nice."

The woman hiccupped looking away from his face, "This is absolutely crazy. I can't be a queen."

"Yes you can! We'll figure out the details later, okay? Or else I have to give away my kingdom to my cousin Theo."

"Duke Theo? He's a jerk!"

"I know!" Adrien cried. "Which is why I can't let him be king and why I need you to marry me."

The woman took a deep breath, looked into his eyes, and said, "Okay. I'll-I'll marry you."

"Thank you!" Adrien shouted, then picked her up, spinning her in a circle. She let out a startled yelp. He set her back down, then grabbed her hand and started walking back to where Sancoeur stood, papers and pen in hand. "First things first, what is your name?"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng," She replied.

"Beautiful," He smiled at her. "And mine's Adrien Agreste."

Marinette laughed, a hysterical sort of giggle. "I know."

"Right, right." Adrien shook his head. "Well, ready for our wedding?"

Sancoeur came up to the two and asked them to recite a couple of vows. Adrien held Marinette's shaking hand the entire time. Then the two quickly signed, making the whole ordeal official.

"Congratulations," Sancoeur said. "And with a minute to spare. You may now kiss the bride," She nodded at Adrien.

"Um," he replied, looking down at his new wife. "I suppose we should check for chemistry?"

"R-right." Marinette looked up to him, face red.

"Okay," Adrien stated, then leaned down, his hands cupping her cheeks, and placed a kiss on her lips. They both drew back, smiles on their faces.

Maybe this strange marriage wouldn't be so bad after all. Kissing Lila had certainly never felt that good or made his stomach fill with so many butterflies.

"Coronation time," Sancoeur interrupted, breaking the two apart and opening the door to the throne room on her left.

As Adrien stumbled through the door, for some reason he couldn't wipe the smile off of his face. Sure, the day was horrible, but he couldn't help thinking that maybe it was getting better.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes:** **All of you readers are seriously amazing. You blew me away with all the awesome feedback and I just want to thank every single one of you. So, it looks like I'm going to continue this! I don't have much planned yet, I'll just see where the characters take me! Please review if you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you!**

After the eleventh "Do you promise to uphold some pompously-stated ideal about the kingdom" Adrien was getting a little bit done with the whole coronation. There are only so many times you can say "I do" without forgetting about the wedding you just had, leading to only one thought: panic.

Had he really just gotten married? Yes, yes he had. To a person he barely knew? Why yes, that was also correct. Adrien was just happy she had told him her name, because that would have been embarrassing when he had to introduce her to the assembled council without knowing her—

Oh no. Oh no no no. He had to introduce her to the council. As his wife. What if they asked him questions about how they met to make sure the marriage wasn't a sham? He knew practically nothing about her! But that wasn't even the worst part—Adrien completely spaced wedding rings. How could he have forgotten the rings?! They were like the pinnacle of getting married! How were they supposed to sell this marriage if they didn't even have rings? For that matter, where even was Marinette? She needed to be here to confirm the marriage to the council. And it wasn't as if Adrien could just go and look for her! He was in the middle of a coronation ceremony!

This was not going to work. Theo was going to become king, Marinette would be thrown in jail, and Adrien would be banished from the kingdom.

Positive thoughts, positive thoughts, Adrien told himself as he felt an alarming about of sweat coming out of his hands and face. He was sure it was a very handsome look.

Adrien tuned back into his coronation when he heard thunderous applause from the assembled council. Phew. Must have gotten through all of the "I do" statements without making a fool of himself.

"And now," stated the council leader. "I will place in Prince Adrien's hands the Shiny Silver Scepter of Peace and the Glowing Golden Orb of Power to represent his capability to lead this kingdom with peace and power!" The council leader turned to Adrien, smiling. Adrien waited, hand outstretched. He took the scepter and orb with no problem. He breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to face the rest of the council. As he did so, he lost his grip on the orb, and the little thing sailed right out of sweaty palms and crashed into the floor of the throne room.

The room was silent until Adrien let out a very loud, very bad curse word. The council was too stunned to even collectively gasp.

"You just dropped the Glowing Golden Orb of Power," the council leader whispered.

Adrien shuffled awkwardly, "Yes, yes I did. Here, I'll just go get it and hopefully we can all forget about this horribly embarrassing start to my rule." Adrien walked across the floor, scepter held in one hand. He reached the thankfully-unharmed metal orb and reached down to grab it. Unfortunately, it slid a couple feet away, thanks to his still sweaty hands. It took him a couple more tries before he was able to firmly grab it and make his way back to where the council leader stood.

Adrien swore he was now going to invest in hand deodorant.

"Well," the council leader cleared his throat. "Since you now have a firm hold of the royal objects, I suppose it is time to call Lady Rossi, now Agreste, into the room to confirm your marriage, then announce you as king."

"Uhh," Adrien stuttered. "About that…I'm actually married to Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Of course, now they decided it was a good time to collectively gasp. Then there was some scattered muttering, and Adrien just wanted to curl up and die already.

The council leader raised his eyebrow. "Is she a lady of the court?"

Adrien's eyes darted around the room. "Sure, yeah, we can go with that." Surely when he was king, it couldn't be that hard to promote someone to a lady, right? "Lady Marinette Dupain-Cheng, of the House of…um, House of Houses?" Adrien cringed. Man, he really wasn't good at this on-the-spot answering stuff.

"I do not think I have heard of that House—" The council leader started, but Adrien talked right over his next works.

"Nope, it's totally a real House, I did not just make it up. It's an older House, one that hasn't been active for ages until I met Marinette and she disclosed to me she was the long-lost niece or whatever, I'll figure out the details later." At the blank stares of the council members, Adrien gave them an unconvincing smile. "Anywho, we can just skip all of that and get to the final moment of the coronation. Someone can go find Marinette so we can confirm our marriage and everything," Adrien finished, waving his hands around.

This would have been fine, except that he was still very sweaty and still very much holding the Glowing Golden Orb of Power. On the last wave of his hands, the orb sailed right out of his hand and crashed right through the beautiful stained glass window of the throne room. The glass shattered in a resounding crash, falling all over the floor. Adrien watched as the little orb bounced down the hill that lead up to the throne room.

Well. There went any chance at saving the last shred of dignity he still had.

Thankfully, the door creaked open before anyone could comment. The royal announcer shouted, "May I present Future-Queen Marinette Dupain-Chang, now Agreste."

Much to Adrien's relief, no one said anything about the destroyed window, and instead focused on the new issue. Okay, so maybe Adrien wasn't totally relieved. Or relieved at all. But at least the council leader finally took the scepter out of his hands.

Marinette made her way to Adrien's side, and the two stood there as the council leader said some things about confirming the marriage and whatnot. Thankfully, he didn't make the two answer any questions, so Adrien pretty much zoned out. He was much more focused on the woman standing next to him.

Adrien leaned over and whispered, "Where did you get that dress? It makes you look really pretty."

Marinette's face reddened, and she took t minute before responding back, "Royal Advisor Sancoeur stole it off of a low-ranking dignitary walking past."

Adrien snorted, which was unfortunate, because it was the exact moment the council leader stopped talking and gestured at the two. Marinette immediately straightened, and Adrien just gave a sheepish shrug to the assembled council members.

The council leader cleared his throat, then repeated his last sentence. "Now, would the two future rulers of this kingdom please come forward to sign the official royal coronation document?"

Adrien and Marinette did as they were told. The document was set up on a little pedestal to the side of the thrones. As Adrien leaned over the paper to sign, a drop of sweat ran down his nose and plopped down onto the paper. Marinette looked up at him.

"Why are you so sweaty?"

"Panic sweat," Adrien whispered back. He tried to wipe the drop of sweat off the paper, but that only served to spread the liquid and bleed the ink. "Good, that's good," Adrien groaned, causing Marinette to giggle. Adrien couldn't help the large grin that broke out on his face hearing her laugh.

The two signed the papers quickly enough, and Adrien went back up to the front, where he was officially crowned king. Everyone clapped, and then the balcony doors were opened so they could be presented to all of the kingdom that was assembled outside the palace. Adrien grabbed Marinette's hand and walked over, thankful for the warm and comforting presence of her hand in his.

"To the kingdom, may I present King Adrien Agreste and his wife, Lady Marinette Dupain-Cheng of the House of Houses!" There was a thunderous applause, and the two stepped out onto the balcony, smiling.

As Adrien looked over his kingdom, her heard a loud shrill scream. He squinted until he located his best friend, Nino, and his girlfriend, Lady Alya, who was the sound of the awful noise. Adrien turned toward Marinette, "Do you perchance know why Lady Alya is screaming like that?"

Marinette grimaced, "Lady Alya is my best friend. She's probably just…surprised?"

"Oh," Adrien nodded, then paled. How had he not considered how Marinette's friends would think about this? With the rush of everything, he hadn't even given a thought to what came after. Like how he and Marinette would live married to each other and how those who loved her would react. A thought just then occurred to Adrien that made the sweat on his forehead turn clammy.

Adrien had completely forgotten about her parents.

Never mind almost losing his throne because his ex was a stupid cheater or getting married five minutes before his coronation or throwing the Glowing Golden Orb of Power out the window, this was how he was going to die. Telling two respectable citizens that he had married their daughter and thereby made her a queen, not because he loved her, but because he had literally run into her and panicked.

Theo might as well take the crown now. There was no way he was going to survive the next hour.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes: Once again, thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews and favorites and follows! It always makes my day when I get the notifications! I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

 **Summary: And Adrien thought** **throwing the Glowing Golden Orb of Power out the window was embarrassing.**

Adrien did not expect to be hugged. Eaten, maybe. Squashed into the ground, for sure. But not hugged.

And not only was he hugged, but he was hugged so hard he was lifted off the ground and smothered by the shoulder of the very large head baker of the palace. Who was now his father-in-law.

"Welcome to the family!" the large man—Tom, Adrien had just learned-bellowed.

"Thanks?" Adrien squeaked into the man's shoulder. He laughed, just hugging Adrien tighter.

Okay, so maybe death-by-too-tight-hug should be added to his list of ways to die on his coronation day.

"Marinette," Tom swung around until he was facing Marinette, taking Adrien with him. Adrien did not get the pleasure of looking at Marinette, as he was still practically slung over Tom's shoulder and only got to see the empty hallway beyond the trio. Marinette's mom had already said her congratulations, but had to get back to the kitchens.

"Yes?" Adrien heard Marinette ask from behind him. Her voice only drew Adrien's attention to the fact that she was pretty much eye level with his bottom.

This was fine, totally fine, Adrien tried to reassure himself as he felt a blush immediately flood his neck. A drop of panic sweat ran down his nose and barely missed hitting Tom's back.

Tom replied to Marinette, once again congratulating her. Tom had yet to release Adrien from the hug, so Adrien just let his legs dangle and tried not to panic sweat any more. By the amount of sweat dripping off of his face, Adrien was pretty sure he was failing on that front.

"So," Tom shook Adrien a bit, and he let out a startled yelp. "How did this end up happening?"

"Oh, um," Marinette said. Adrien figured it was his fault they were in this mess, so he might as well break the news. Even if it did mean death-by-hug.

"I had five minutes until I needed to get married or else I would lose my crown. Marinette was walking down the hallway, so I asked her and she said yes." Adrien took in a deep breath, then felt his belt pop and break. Adrien had to bite down hard on his lip to keep a curse word from being uttered.

Tom chuckled, "Well, that certainly is an interesting way to propose."

"I was uh," Adrien said, wiggling a bit. "Very panicked. Please forgive me." If only he could tug down his jacket a bit lower, as he could already feel his pants starting to slip off. Adrien knew he could not handle it if that happened. He would actually crawl up into a hole and die. Never mind the crawling part, if his pants slipped off while he was being hugged by his father-in-law in front of his practically-a-stranger wife, he would just spontaneously combust on the spot.

"Son, as long as you love and treat her with respect, there's no need to apologize."

"If I may ask sir, how are you so calm about this?" Adrien wiggled a bit more, willing the pants to slide up, not down.

"I've been around the palace for a fair amount of time, and I know you're a good kid. Plus I've always hoped you would eventually get together, ever since Marinette disclosed to me her massive crush on you. I just never expected it to happen this soon!"

"Father!" Marinette hissed.

"Uh, what?" Adrien replied, very elegantly.

"Nothing!" Marinette replied. Now Adrien really wished he could see her face. And not just because it meant that if he was looking at her, he couldn't accidently moon her.

Tom just chuckled some more. "Tell me son, surely walking down the hallway was not the first time you noticed Marinette."

"Oh, uh, nope!" Adrien let out a nervous laugh. "I remember staring at her as she sketched in the garden without her knowing I was there!"

There was a pause in the conversation.

Oh. No. Had he really just said that? He had really just said that! With an exclamation point!

He really wasn't going to survive this day.

"Ha, ha," Adrien tried to cover his slip-up. "That came out way creepier than intended! I'm not a weirdo, I swear! I looked at her for like thirty-seconds, a minute tops! I was admiring how cute she looked, not-not anything else!" Yup, his face was just going to be permanently red now. It's just a fact.

Adrien was saved from any further embarrassment by the sounds of heels coming down the other end of the hall. Tom still hadn't let Adrien down, so he couldn't see who was approaching. Just wonderful.

"You kids have fun," Tom stated. "I should probably go help your mother in the kitchen, and it looks like you two have company."

As Tom set him down, he gave Adrien a wink and a pat on the back. Okay, so maybe all of Adrien's hope of Tom accepting him wasn't lost. Tom gave one last hug to Marinette, then left the two.

At least Adrien's pants hadn't fallen down, so that was a huge win. Adrien made sure to keep one hand on one of the belt buckles to make sure the pants didn't fall.

Adrien turned to Marinette with a sheepish smile. "I am so sorry, I don't know why I said that, it was super weird and creepy and—" Adrien felt a finger on his lips and stopped talking immediately.

"It's really fine Adrien, don't worry about it. We've got bigger problems now," Marinette stated, casting her gaze to the person angrily marching toward them and removing her hand from Adrien's lips.

Adrien's eyes widened. "Oh my."

"Yeah," Marinette grimaced. "She's going to kill us."

"I am so sorry," Adrien whispered.

The two could only watch in wide-eyed horror as Alya reached the two. She pointed at Adrien, and he shrank back, hiding himself behind Marinette. Alya fixed her glare on Marinette, pointing to her, then back to Adrien.

"What in all of the universe is this about?!"

It was now, Adrien realized with startling clarity, that he wished he was still in the safe arms of the very large, very intimating Tom Dupain-Cheng. He would even risk his pants falling down again if it meant he could have another buffer between him and Alya.

Marinette held her palms out, "Please, Alya, we can explain!"

Alya crossed her arms. "You better, because I did not spend so much of my time trying to get you two together for you to just up and get married!"

"Excuse me, what?" Adrien asked.

Just then, there was a shout from the end of the hallway. "Alya! Babe, hold on! Wait!" And there came Nino, racing out from an adjacent hallway. He was so concerned about catching up to his girlfriend that he missed the turn into the hallway the rest of the gang was currently standing in. He ran straight into the wall, knocked his head, and fell to the ground.

"Nino!" The three shouted.

"I'm okay, I'm okay!" Nino waved off their concerns. "Not the first time this has happened, and it won't be the last." Nino stood up and made his way toward his friends at a much slower pace.

After making sure Nino was all right, Alya turned back to the newlyweds. "Don't think my boyfriend's unfortunate run-in with the wall gets you out of my interrogation."

From down the hall, they heard Nino yell, "You go get them Alya!"

"Betrayal!" Adrien yelled back. Nino ignored him, and Alya smirked.

"So you two, explain to me exactly how you ended up married, and why I had to find out with the rest of the kingdom." Nino finally made his way to the group.

"Oh, uh, well," Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. "It wasn't a preplanned thing. Like, at all. Pretty much the opposite, actually."

"Yeah," Marinette continued. "If I knew sooner than five minutes before the wedding, trust me, you would have been the first person I would have told."

Alya's eyes bugged out of her head. "Five minutes? Agreste, what kind of procrastinator are you?"

"In my defense, I didn't know I had to get married until fifteen minutes before the coronation."

Alya threw her hands up, "Wow this kingdom really needs to work on their communication."

Adrien scoffed, "You're telling me."

"Hold up," Nino said, wrapping an arm around Alya's shoulders. "So you two married after five minutes of knowing each other because if you didn't, Adrien would lose his crown? But what about Lila?" Nino turned toward Adrien.

Adrien frowned, "Found her making out with Theo this morning."

Was that really only in this morning? Dang, what an eventful day.

"Yikes, sorry dude."

"It's really probably for the best," Adrien stated, glancing over at Marinette.

Nino and Alya didn't miss the look, causing their eyebrows to raise and Adrien's face to blush once more.

"Wait," Alya looked between the two. "You mean to tell me that all that work of getting you to have a conversation together was for nothing?"

Adrien's eyebrows creased, "Huh?"

"Dude, Marinette's had like, the hugest crush on you for the longest time. We've been trying to at least get you two to meet and talk for at least the past year," Nino stated.

"Huh?" Adrien repeated. He could already feel the panic sweat coming back.

"And the worst part is you two still haven't had a conversation yet!" Alya grumbled. "My hard work was for nothing!"

"I'm so confused," Adrien whispered. In his stunned state, he completely forgot about his broken belt problem. As his hand raised to cover his mouth, his pants dropped to the floor, showing his friends and wife his underpants.

"Ahhh!" Adrien screamed (in a very manly manner, Adrien had to add) and reached down to pull the pants back up. He leaned over too far and fell, face-planting onto the cold marble floor.

The panicked sweat had now morphed into _very_ panicked sweat.

Adrien picked himself up from the floor, face entirely red and pants now safely back on. Alya and Nino were cackling, and Marinette was sporting a blush about as dark as Adrien's.

Alya turned toward Marinette, still laughing. "Didn't think you'd ever see your long-time crush in his undies, huh? Would now be the time to cross it off of your bucket list?"

"Nooooo, Alya!" Marinette groaned, hiding her face in her hands. Adrien couldn't help but smile at her, despite his paralyzing panic.

So it seems he would not be the only one dying of embarrassment today.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes:** **Thank you all so much for reading! Each one of you is wonderful, and thanks so much for reviewing or favoriting or following!**

 **It's pretty late at night and I have to get up early tomorrow, but I really wanted to get this up, so I apologize for any mistakes due to my lack of editing.**

 **Enjoy!**

This day was not going as planned, Adrien thought absently as he choked on several pieces of confetti. Royal Advisor Sancoeur had warned him that there would be some confetti thrown at them as they entered, so Adrien was expecting a light dusting. Oh no, it was like three confetti bombs had gone off right in his and Marinette's faces.

Adrien felt Marinette's hand tighten in his as he coughed some more. At least he had on a belt again. He thought about releasing Marinette's hand that Sancoeur had shoved into his right before they entered the Grand Dining Hall. However, Adrien remembered Sancoeur's strict instructions to appear as couple-y as possible during dinner. He was pretty sure dropping Marinette's hand was the opposite of that. Plus, it kinda felt nice, holding onto her hand. Which was a relief, because Adrien was fairly certain he was very bad at the whole romantic thing. Just look at the Lila Incident!

From Adrien's right, he heard the royal announcer shout, "Please welcome King Adrien Agreste and his wife, the Future-Queen Marinette Agreste of the House of Houses!"

The room quieted as everyone looked at the two rulers. Adrien gave another loud cough, spewing a few more pieces of confetti. He tried not to think about the hundreds of people who had just watch him do that.

Marinette looked at Adrien with wide eyes. She inclined her head towards the gathered people. After another moment of silence, she did it again.

What was she trying to say? Adrien looked back out at the crowd again, seeing the tables heaping full with food, but no one eating. Right, he did remember Sancoeur mentioning something about that.

Adrien cleared his throat. "Uh, you may all go back to whatever you were doing?"

Everyone continued to stare at them. Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. "Uhhh."

"The food," Marinette hissed. Adrien's eyes went wide.

"Right! Food! You may all food! Err, eat! Eat all the food!" There was applause, and everyone turned to fill their plates. Adrien gave a sigh of relief.

"Thank you," he said, turning to Marinette.

Her cheeks were pink. "No problem."

Suddenly, Sancoeur appeared out of thin air. Marinette jumped, and Adrien bit down a scream.

"Come you two," Sancoeur stated. "Your table is waiting."

Adrien clutched a hand to his heart, trying to get his pulse back to a normal level again. "Our what?"

"Table," Sancoeur replied. "This way."

Sancoeur led them over to the front of the large room. There sat a table with two chairs, piled high with all sorts of food. Roasted lamb, au gratin potatoes, sautéed vegetables, baked salmon, three different types of rolls, and on and on and on. Adrien's mouth started watering just looking at it all. Chocolate soufflé, filet mignon, and wait, were those chicken wings!

Adrien expected people to be coming up to the table and taking the food, as they were everywhere else. Because c'mon, what other table had _chicken wings_ , the best food in the entire kingdom!

Sancoeur gestured toward the table. "Enjoy."

"Uh, Royal Advisor Sancoeur, is all this food for us?"

"Yes," Sancoeur stared at Adrien.

Adrien spluttered, "B-but all this food could feed the entire guard for a week! There's so much food!"

"We can give the leftovers to the guard when you are finished," Sancoeur stated without batting an eye. "Now please, enjoy. I have instructed the guests to not bother you for an hour, so that you can eat in peace and get to know one another." With that, Sancoeur left the two royals standing there, gaping.

"O-Okay," Adrien stated. "I guess we better get to eating?" He thought about kissing her cheek, just to establish a date-like vibe. However, based on his track record for the day, Adrien figured that could only end in disaster, so he decided against it.

"Um, yeah," Marinette responded back. Adrien walked over and pulled out a chair for Marinette. She smiled at him and sat down. A couple nearby guests 'awww-ed' at the display. Okay, maybe he wasn't totally hopeless at the whole couple-y thing. So of course, Adrien had to go and ruin the moment by knocking a plate of figs off the table as he pushed Marinette's chair in.

"Cool," he muttered, swiping the figs under the table with his foot. "Cool cool cool cool cool."

It was quiet for an awkwardly long amount of time as Marinette and Adrien grabbed some food.

"So," Adrien started. "Your parents made all of this?"

"With help from the rest of the kitchen staff, of course."

"Well, it's really, really good. And they even made my favorite chicken wings!" Adrien exclaimed as he waved said chicken wing around in the air. He nearly missed hitting a dignitary passing by.

"Yeah," Marinette smiled. "They're pretty awesome like that." She cleared her throat. "So, um, hey, A-Adrien?"

He paused mid-chicken-wing bite. "Yes?"

"About what my parents and friends said. I don't want you to think that I'm some creeper or something, I just always thought you were so nice and sweet and you're of course like, super handsome and yet so kind so I kinda crushed on you a bit?"

It took Adrien a minute to figure out what she was referring to, but as soon as he realized, his eyes widened. "Marinette," Adrien set down the chicken wing, looking her in the eyes. "If anyone's the creeper, it's me. I literally asked you to marry me seconds after crashing into you in a hallway."

Marinette looked away. "I-I know, but I don't want you to think that I ran into you in the hallway so that you would marry me since I had a crush on you. Because that was never my intention, I was just going to keep my crush a secret and avoid you forever."

Adrien choked. "Wow, Marinette, I—Trust me, I would never have ever thought that. Granted, I don't know you too well yet, but I dunno. By how much convincing it took you to marry me, since I am the king and would up your status to queen, I figured you couldn't have had evil plans for taking over the kingdom." Marinette giggled, and Adrien found himself wishing he could hear the sound again and again. "And lucky for you, we're married now, so no crushing required. But I'm very flattered regardless." He winked, and Marinette froze, red creeping up her neck.

However, Adrien confirmed his fear that he was not good at the whole romance-thing. So instead of winking, Adrien did this face-twitch thing that caused him to get a hair in his eye. In the process of trying to get out the hair, Adrien's foot caught one of the fallen figs under the table. The rogue fig caused Adrien to slip, pushing his chair back and knocking into a passing waiter. Shrimp went flying through the air.

"Fine, fine, everything is fine," Adrien muttered, helping the waiter to stand back up. Adrien started picking up the shrimp.

Marinette came over, and Adrien looked up at her, "I figured kicking these under the table would not be a good idea."

Marinette laughed, then began to help him pick up the shrimp as well. "It might have even resulted in you dropping some of the chicken wings."

"The horror!" Adrien gave a loud dramatic gasp that only had Marinette laughing more.

Adrien watched her, a smile tugging up the corners of his mouth.

Perhaps acting all couple-y wouldn't be a bad thing after all.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone! This is the last chapter! I hope you enjoy!**

 **Even though I won't be continuing this particular storyline anymore, I might start a series that contains similar fics like this, where Adrien and Marinette have to get married for some crazy reason.**

 **Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely day, and thank you so so much for reading, commenting, and leaving kudos!**

 **Chapter Title: In Which the Author Needs Cheering Up So She Decides to Redo a Well-Loved Trope**

"So…" Adrien said, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"So…" Marinette replied back, looking at a spot over his shoulder.

"Well," Adrien started again, before glancing back into his bedroom and stopping.

"Well?" Marinette looked forward, taking a deep breath in.

 _C'mon Agreste_ , Adrien coached himself. _Say something. It's not like you can make the situation any more awkward than it already is._

"There's only one bed," Adrien whispered, horror creeping into his tone. Adrien was pretty sure he heard someone playing a dramatic duh-duh-duh somewhere in the castle.

"I can't believe that in all of this large castle, there isn't another room available for me to sleep in tonight," Marinette scowled.

"It's the coronation weekend," Adrien shrugged. "The place is full. Sancoeur even said she already promised your old room to a noble."

"I know, but…" Marinette sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Isn't this so soon? Like, we only got married a couple hours ago. And we only officially met five minutes before that! "

"I mean, that's not counting my awkward sorta-stalking and your mega-huge crush on me, so if you factor in that, we've known each other for like twenty years! See, sharing a bed should be no problem!" Adrien said, very cheerfully and very calmly, before he wiped away the massive amount of sweat piling up on his forehead.

Curse the panic sweat.

Marinette seemed to notice the panic sweat as well, because she gave a little laugh. "Yeah, no problem at all. And twenty years? How much sorta-stalking did you do?"

Adrien groaned, tipping his head back. "Not a lot! I swear I'm not that much of a creeper!"

Marinette laughed, "Adrien, it's okay, seriously, I'm just kidding. I had a detailed schedule of all of your activities that I kept for like three years, so I really have no room to judge."

"You what?"

"Ahaha, nothing," Marinette muttered, her face slowly inching toward red.

"Hey, it's okay," Adrien smiled. "We can be creepers together!"

"What a marriage this is," Marinette deadpanned, but she grinned nonetheless.

"Exactly!" Adrien beamed. Then his gaze fell on his bedroom, and his grin dropped. "Speaking of, we should probably, you know…" He gestured toward the bed.

At Adrien's comment, Marinette's face completely paled. "W-what? We-we aren't going to…"

Adrien coughed, his whole face warming. "NO! NO, I would not! I didn't mean to imply, gosh, nO Marinette, we barely know each other! I just meant that we have to sleep together!"

Marinette's face got even paler.

Adrien realized his colossal mistake.

"OH MY NO I AM SO SORRY! Slumber next to each other in the same bed, that is all that I meant! Absolutely all! No no no, I do not want to—ahhh I don't think I can recover from this."

Marinette let out a relieved giggle. "It's okay."

Adrien let out a large breath, "You're the best Marinette."

Marinette blushed. "Thanks Adrien. Now c'mon, I am feeling tired."

"Right!" Adrien straightened up. "It has been quite a day."

Marinette laughed, "That's putting it lightly."

The two smiled as they entered Adrien's room. Adrien let Marinette change into her pjs first, then he used his bathroom to change, joining Marinette in the bed.

"Wow," Adrien said, fluffing up his pillows. "My bed is huge. I can barely even see you over there."

"Yeah," Marinette laughed. "I don't even know what we were worried about! We're practically on opposite sides of the castle. No awkward situations to be had here!"

"Yes!" Adrien did a little happy dance, feeling the panic sweat begin to recede. He climbed into the bed, covering himself in blankets. "And don't worry, Sancoeur had the cleaning staff change all the sheets and pillows, so it's all super clean and free of any gross Adrien germs."

"Haha, okay, thanks Adrien. Well, good night," Marinette yawned, turning over.

"Good-ACHOO!" Adrien sneezed, jolting up. He could already feel his eyes watering.

Oh no. No no no.

"Bless-" Marinette began to sleepily mutter, but then Adrien sneezed again.

"ACHOO!"

"Adrien?"

"ACHOO! ACHOO! ACHOO!"

"Are you okay?"

"ACHOO!—No," Adrien said, scrambling out of the bed and backing as far away from it as possible.

Marinette got up too (Wow, what cute pjs, Adrien thought between bouts of sneezing) and came over, offering him a tissue. Adrien took it gratefully.

"I'm allergic to-A-A-ACHOO—feathers. The cleaning staff must have forgotten and given us feather pillows." Tears were running down his cheeks, and Adrien wiped them with the tissue.

"What can I do?"

"Call Sancoeur."

Marinette nodded, then ran out into the hall, calling Sancoeur's name. Within seconds, Sancoeur appeared, still dressed in her business suit.

"You summoned me?" she asked as she walked into Adrien's bedroom, Marinette following.

Sancoeur sighed as soon as she saw Adrien huddled in the corner, eyes puffy and snot dripping down his nose. "Feathers?"

"Feathers," Marinette grimaced.

"Very well then. I shall find someone for you to trade rooms with," And as fast as she appeared, Sancoeur left.

"Wow, that woman is scary," Marinette commented.

Adrien nodded from his position in the corner.

"This way," Sancoeur appeared again, and Marinette jumped. She helped Adrien get up, and the newlyweds followed Sancoeur down several flights of stairs and across many hallways. "The only people we could find who were in rooms with no feathers and not asleep or too intoxicated were in the east wing. One of the lesser nobles graciously agreed to switch rooms." She opened a door to her right, one of many down a long hallway. "Enjoy." With that she left, allowing Adrien and Marinette to deal with the issue at hand.

The bed in this room was much, much smaller than the bed in Adrien's room.

Adrien was wondering how he was going to fit on it, much less him _and_ Marinette.

"So much for no awkward situations, huh?" Adrien joked, and was thankful for Marinette's nervous laughter.

"Y-yeah," Marinette replied.

"Shall we?" Adrien asked, holding the door open for Marinette.

"I guess," Marinette replied, walking into the room. "It's time to sleep together, I suppose."

Adrien choked, immediately flushing red. Marinette laughed so hard, she had to clutch her stomach.

"No fair," Adrien grumbled. "I said I was sorry!"

Marinette continued to laugh, and Adrien joined in as they got into bed. It wasn't nearly as awkward as Adrien was expecting. In fact, they found they fit in the bed pretty well, with Marinette's head tucked up near Adrien's neck, his arm around her waist, their feet tangled together.

They were cuddled up like that for several minutes, when Adrien's stomach let out a very loud gurgle. Marinette's hand flew up to her mouth, stifling the giggle.

"Too much fried chicken?"

Adrien nodded, certain sleeping in a pile of feathers would be more preferable than what had just happened. "Too much fried chicken."

Marinette giggled, then reached down and patted his stomach. Adrien's face turned a shade darker. "It's okay, happens to the best of us."

"Yeah," Adrien sighed, then pulled Marinette closer, once he was sure his stomach was done misbehaving. "Thanks Marinette, you're the coolest."

"I know," Marinette mumbled, already practically asleep. Adrien couldn't help but smile as he held her in his arms.

It took him a bit longer to fall asleep, but once he did, it was one of his most peaceful nights in a long time.

He would have to make sure and thank Sancoeur later.

It seemed as if his and Marinette's marriage was already off to a pretty good start, and Adrien couldn't wait to see what the future would hold.

Hopefully no more panic sweat.


End file.
